Our country this month for Eat the World is New Zealand.  My first thought about New Zealand cuisine was lamb.  Obviously that was not going to be on the menu so my second thought was kiwi.

Of course, kiwis aren’t originally from New Zealand.  They are Chinese in origin and were called Chinese gooseberries until the 1960s when farmers in New Zealand decided to rebrand them to draw attention to their new exports.  I decided to honor this marketing coup but when I went to the store the only kiwis I could find were packaged like this.

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New Zealanders better watch out.  The Californians are trying to outmaneuver them.

Since watching the Great British Baking Show I’ve been in the mood for a trifle.  I am not ambitious enough to want to make my own cake.  I would totally disappoint Mary Berry with my lack of knowledge between Genoise and Victorian and all other things I thought were just called cake.  I’m not too proud to just use a regular old store bought angel food cake for easy of assembly.

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Kiwi-Strawberry Trifle

Ingredients

Kiwi Curd

  • 14 oz can Coconut Cream
  • 5 Kiwis - peeled
  • 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
  • 2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup

Strawberry Cream

  • 14 oz can Coconut Cream
  • 1/4 cup Powdered Sugar
  • 5 Strawberries - pureed

1 premade Angel Food Cake

Instructions

Make the Kiwi Curd

  1. Combine coconut cream and kiwis in a high speed blender until smooth.

  2. Remove 1/4 cup of mixture and mix in a small bowl with the cornstarch.

  3. Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan.  Heat to just below a boil.  The mixture should thicken and form a ribbon when spooned across the surface.


  4. Remove from heat for 15 minutes.  Taste and add more maple syrup if needed. 

  5. Transfer to glass bowl.  Place plastic wrap across the surface to prevent a film from forming.  Refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours.

Make Strawberry Cream

  1. Refrigerate a can of coconut cream overnight.  Place metal or glass bowl and beaters in freezer for 10 minutes before using.


  2. Combine coconut cream and powdering sugar in chilled bowl.  Mix in strawberry puree.  Store in refrigerator until used.

Assemble Trifle

  1. Layer section of angel food cake, then kiwi curd, then strawberry cream.  Repeat as desired.

20180701_125341.jpg The kiwi curd is a pale yellow color. You could add food coloring if you wanted it to be more green like the fruit.

My trifle making skills are not exactly up to par.  I put a round section of angel food cake in the bottom of a little glass.  I ever so carefully spooned in the set curd.  However, my angel food cake wasn’t perfectly the size of the glass and some curd slipped down the outside.  I’d have been judged to be messy and not a good presentation on The Great British Baking Show.  It tasted good though.

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Check out all the wonderful New Zealand dishes prepared by fellow Eat the World members and share with #eattheworld. Click here to find out how to join and have fun exploring a country a month in the kitchen with us!

Evelyne: New Zealand Lolly Cake
Juli: Hokey Pokey Ice Cream
Camilla: Baked Fish Fritters + Wild Sauvignon
Amy: Kiwi Burger
Wendy: Kiwi Pavlova

For my New Zealand book, I read

“Eight-year-old Kahu, a member of the Maori tribe of Whangara, New Zealand, fights to prove her love, her leadership, and her destiny. Her people claim descent from Kahutia Te Rangi, the legendary ‘whale rider.’ In every generation since Kahutia, a male heir has inherited the title of chief. But now there is no male heir, and the aging chief is desperate to find a successor. Kahu is his only great-grandchild — and Maori tradition has no use for a girl. But when hundreds of whales beach themselves and threaten the future of the Maori tribe, Kahu will do anything to save them – even the impossible.“

This was a frustrating book for me to read.  The chief is so hateful to Kahu just because she is a girl.  I spent the whole book just wanting to smack him.  I loved his wife though.Â